# Node-red in workplace. What are you using it for?
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367
**Category:** General
**Created:** [10 September 2019 16:17 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367 "2019-09-10T16:17:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@paulohlp](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/paulohlp)
#### Post date: [10 September 2019 16:17 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/1 "2019-09-10T16:17:27Z")
I would like to know your uses of node-red and share what I’m doing with this amazing tool.
What are you using it for?
This topic is more like a love story than something useful. And I believe that knowing what are you using it for may give me some insights for the future.
**So far I´m using it to:**
• Control google calendar;
• Automate e-mail to clients;
• Simple webpages;
• Share trello boards and cards;
• Allow clients to download images from my company account of Shutterstock;
• Generate certificates and reports to my clients about their video productions.
**Future uses:**
• Automatic upload to video server;
• Automatic thumbnail creation.
After stumbling with node-red I delve into learning javaScript and so for it is being very interesting. My background is video, so it was not something planned.
Node-red creators and community are doing my job easier and a lot more interesting.
Thanks
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### Author:  [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)
#### Post date: [10 September 2019 16:57 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/2 "2019-09-10T16:57:59Z")
You may want to check out the recent survey results - [https://nodered.org/about/community/survey/2019/](https://nodered.org/about/community/survey/2019/)
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### Author:  [@kuema](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/kuema)
#### Post date: [10 September 2019 17:23 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/3 "2019-09-10T17:23:31Z")
**At work** , we are using Node-RED as a part of our SCADA solution.
I have described our use case a bit more detailed here:
> [@Increase canvas size? (supersize flows!)](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/increase-canvas-size-supersize-flows/14855/16):
>
> Okay, let me explain our use case a little deeper. Background: We are a manufacturer of custom engineering lines, so each project has different requirements. These can be a quite large lines of connected physical processes. In our terminology, a line consists of different modules, each module has one or more stations. At each station there can be one or more physical processes. Each part (the product) is handled through the line and is usually identified by a unique ID. Physical processes ca…
**At home** it is part of my home automation and visualization system, gathering and processing all kinds of data from ESP8266 nodes, heating thermostats, etc... Currently, the visualization part is done with the default Node-RED dashboard, but I'm going to move to UI-builder for that.
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### Author:  [@seth350](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/seth350)
#### Post date: [10 September 2019 17:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/4 "2019-09-10T17:25:06Z")
Industrial world here, so lots of PLC integration.
- Reading thermal imaging data from a camera using TCP node, decode & parse, send to PLC.
- Logging process parameters from PLC to SQL
- Visual graphs and gauges showing process values from PLC
- Barcode Scanning System to verify components against a BOM in SQL
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### Author:  [@afelix](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/afelix)
#### Post date: [10 September 2019 17:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/5 "2019-09-10T17:36:30Z")
I’m not currently employed but for my last job as a test engineer I tried to build a tool to ease my workload that I now realise I would have succeeded in creating if I had known of Node-RED already. Job included manual testing web applications and continually keeping track of all kinds of resources. I was the only one in the office utilising the RSS feed on our internal bug tracker, for example.
Things I tried to automate in Python back then included renaming and moving screenshots immediately after they were taken so they could be sorted on client and project, then stored in both the issue tracker as well as the CVS system following the company’s regulations; keeping track of new and updated bugs to see if it was relevant for the test I was running; starting test automations when needed; keeping track of time spent on tasks and log it automatically in the HR tracker system
Just thinking of it now I could have easily done that with relatively small flows. Would have made the job a lot more tolerable too; doing all this for below minimum wage was so not worth it.
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### Author:  [@Bobo](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Bobo)
#### Post date: [11 September 2019 02:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/6 "2019-09-11T02:48:32Z")
> [@paulohlp](#):
>
> Share trello boards and cards
Excuse my ignorance and OT post but is Trello similar to Telegram in its functionality?
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### Author:  [@krambriw](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/krambriw)
#### Post date: [11 September 2019 03:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/7 "2019-09-11T03:13:06Z")
> **[Trello](https://trello.com/en)**
>
> Infinitely flexible. Incredibly easy to use. Great mobile apps. It's free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.
Is more like a shared to-do-list, white board with note stickers, best described in the link above
I think it could be used as a notification & status white board for NR but is not really like Telegram that sends you alerts. There are several nodes & flows for NR available already, just google it
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### Author:  [@Bobo](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Bobo)
#### Post date: [11 September 2019 03:20 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/8 "2019-09-11T03:20:43Z")
Thanks for explanation. Yeah I did briefly look at their site but as usual you must cut through all the marketing hype to get to the nuts and bolts, and I couldn't be well ... 😏
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### Author:  [@kuema](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/kuema)
#### Post date: [11 September 2019 04:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/9 "2019-09-11T04:31:48Z")
Just to add a related example 😀:
The Node-RED team has been using this [Trello Board](https://trello.com/b/R0O3CSrI/node-red-whiteboard) for development ideas, but I don't think it is used anymore, though.
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### Author:  [@shrickus](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/shrickus)
#### Post date: [11 September 2019 19:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/10 "2019-09-11T19:10:55Z")
My background is more in the database Engineering side of things, so the majority of my solutions are designed to do things like:
- display html tables of SQL customer/product records
- plot locations of things like customer sites on a world map
- aggregate sensor readings into groups of time for charting
- populate Gantt charts with timings for Process scheduling
- mass data imports from spreadsheets into SQL tables
- simulating sensor readings using a custom Perlin noise generator node
- orchestrate document workflows between Salesforce and AWS Lambda
- log process outputs by publishing JSON to ActiveMQ, subscribing from node-red flows
- store/retrieve node-red flows from Salesforce static resources
So most of my use cases revolve around data processing and workflow orchestration -- not the most mainline usage for an IoT tool, but there ya go... The fact that it works so well for these use cases is just a testament to it being such a well-crafted software platform.
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### Author:  [@BartButenaers](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/BartButenaers)
#### Post date: [11 September 2019 21:19 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/11 "2019-09-11T21:19:47Z")
> [@paulohlp](#):
>
> My background is video, so it was not something planned.
Hi @paulohlp,
Nice to have someone with video background on the forum! I use Node-RED a.o. to monitor my IP camera's at home, but there is still a lot of work to do to convert Node-RED into a full-blown video surveillance tool. So perhaps we will meet again here in the near future on this forum 😉
Bart
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### Author:  [@paulohlp](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/paulohlp)
#### Post date: [11 September 2019 21:22 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/13 "2019-09-11T21:22:45Z")
Surely we will talk talk about it soon.
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### Author:  [@dynamicdave](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dynamicdave)
#### Post date: [12 September 2019 07:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/14 "2019-09-12T07:12:36Z")
I'm using Node-RED in an educational environment - 'after school IoT Club'.
I have groups of 11-14 year-old students who have built all sorts of nodes/projects.
We mainly use Wemos D1 Mini (ESP8266-microcontrollers) mounted on breadboards that talk via MQTT to various Raspberry Pi(es) running Node-RED on our own home-made WiFi network.
It's very rewarding seeing the students climb the learning curves related to electronics & programming and having 'fun' at the same time.
PS: My background, before I retired, was a lecturer teaching computer science and micro-electronics.
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### Author:  [@kuema](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/kuema)
#### Post date: [12 September 2019 07:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/15 "2019-09-12T07:32:24Z")
That is a very cool use case! I wish we already had something like that back then when I was in school. 🙂
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### Author:  [@dynamicdave](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dynamicdave)
#### Post date: [12 September 2019 07:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/16 "2019-09-12T07:48:31Z")
Thanks @kuema
I've published some of the students' projects on..
> **[Share Your Projects](https://discourse.nodered.org/c/share-your-projects/6)**
>
> Share what you’ve done with Node-RED.
The latest one, one of my students is working on, is Building a Solar-Powered Weather Station.
> [@Solar-powered weather station](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/solar-powered-weather-station/12499):
>
> One of the students in my IoT Computer Club (here in the UK) is working on a personal project to design and build a solar-powered weather station (that will be located in one of the school's gardens) to monitor and report air temperature, humidity and pressure. Here are the [Objectives and list of items.](http://resources-area.co.uk/bohunt-projects/weather-station/objectives.pdf) The student has split the project into six manageable stages. [Using a solar panel to charge a Li-Ion battery and power a Wemos D1 Mini.](http://resources-area.co.uk/bohunt-projects/weather-station/stage_1.pdf)[Putting the Wemos D1 Mini into 'deepsleep' to conserve …](http://resources-area.co.uk/bohunt-projects/weather-station/stage_2.pdf)
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### Author:  [@thatcadguy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/thatcadguy)
#### Post date: [13 September 2019 03:52 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/17 "2019-09-13T03:52:28Z")
Work for an OEM -- running it on an industrial edge computer to completely replace the previous HMI/PLC setup. Ladder logic is so stone-age and modern computers are just as reliable if set up correctly.
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### Author:  [@seth350](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/seth350)
#### Post date: [13 September 2019 12:59 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/18 "2019-09-13T12:59:31Z")
Have you guys implemented any alarm lists/history in node-red dashboard?
I’ve been working on that for an application here using ui\_table, but not the same look and feel as standard alarm lists.
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### Author:  [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)
#### Post date: [13 September 2019 13:08 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/19 "2019-09-13T13:08:47Z")
not personally - but what do alarm lists look like ? is there such a thing as a standard look and feel ?
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### Author:  [@afelix](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/afelix)
#### Post date: [13 September 2019 13:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/20 "2019-09-13T13:12:43Z")
Alarm lists as in sensors monitoring events and when the values are too high/low give an error, and keep track of historical errors? I’ve seen them before on industrial scale, but our solar panels also keep a list like that:
This one isn’t a typical look and feel though. I’ve seen several on a Java 6 base that had an interface fitting for that. Others HTML tables in tables...
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### Author:  [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)
#### Post date: [13 September 2019 13:20 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-in-workplace-what-are-you-using-it-for/15367/21 "2019-09-13T13:20:59Z")
ah ok - so I would imagine a combination of pushing things to global context and ui-table could be cooked up fairly readily.
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